though an intermediary implies more than one party, while God is but one.

But the Scripture describes all mankind as the prisoners of sin, so that the promised blessing might on the ground of faith in Jesus Christ be given to those who have faith.

But before this faith came, we were kept shut up under the Law, in order to obtain the faith that was to be revealed.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer in the charge of the attendant.

but he is under guardians and trustees until the time fixed by his father.

but when the proper time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, and made subject to law,

So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir, made so by God.

But formerly, in your ignorance of God, you were slaves to gods that really did not exist,

but now that you know God, or rather have come to be known by him, how can you turn back to the old, crude notions, so poor and weak, and wish to become slaves to them again?

and yet what must have tried you in my physical condition, you did not scorn and despise, but you welcomed me like an angel of God, like Christ Jesus himself.

These men are making much of you, but not with honorable intentions. They want to shut you out, so that you will have to make much of them.

But it is a finer thing to be made much of honestly and constantly??ot just when I can be with you,

But the child of the slave-girl was born in the ordinary course of nature, while the child of the free woman was born in fulfilment of the promise.

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

But just as then the child born in the ordinary course of nature persecuted the one born through the influence of the Spirit, so it is today.

So, brothers, we are children not of a slave but of one who is free.

But we, by the Spirit, through faith wait for the uprightness we hope for.

For in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the want of it counts for anything, but only faith acting through love.

For you, brothers, have been called to freedom; only do not make your freedom an excuse for the physical, but in love be slaves to one another.

But if you bite one another and eat one another, take care, or you will be destroyed by one another.

But if you are guided by the Spirit, you are not subject to law.

But what the Spirit produces is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

But if a man is caught doing something wrong, brothers, you are spiritual, and you must set him right, in a spirit of gentleness. Think of yourself, for you may be tempted too.

Why, even those who let themselves be circumcised do not observe the Law themselves! But they want you to let yourselves be circumcised so that they can boast of that physical fact about you!

But I never want to boast of anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, on which the world has been crucified to me and I have been to the world.

For neither circumcision nor the want of it is of any importance, but only a new creation.

far above all hierarchies, authorities, powers, and dominions, and all titles that can be bestowed not only in this world but in the world to come.

But God is so rich in mercy that because of the great love he had for us,

But now through your union with Christ Jesus you who were once far away have through the blood of Christ been brought near.

So you are no longer foreigners or strangers, but you are fellow-citizens of God's people and members of his family.

There is but one body and one Spirit, just as there is but one hope that belongs to the summons you received.

There is but one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

But each one of us has been given mercy in Christ's generous measure.

Be angry, but do not sin. The sun must not go down upon your anger;

No bad word must ever pass your lips, but only words that are good and suited to improve the occasion, so that they will be a blessing to those who hear them.

But immorality or any form of vice or greed must not be so much as mentioned among you; that would not be becoming in God's people.

For once you were sheer darkness, but now, as Christians, you are light itself. You must live like children of light,

Be very careful, then, about the way you live. Do not act thoughtlessly, but like sensible men,

So do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Do not get drunk on wine, for that is profligacy, but be filled with the Spirit,

in order to bring the church to himself in all her beauty, without a flaw or a wrinkle or anything of the kind, but to be consecrated and faultless.

for no one ever hates his own person, but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ does with the church,

This is a great secret, but I understand it of Christ and the church.

But each one of you must love his wife just as he loves himself, and the wife, too, must respect her husband.

You fathers, too, must not irritate your children, but you must bring them up with Christian training and instruction.

not with mere external service, as though you had only men to please, but like slaves of Christ, carrying out the will of God.

For we have to struggle, not with enemies of flesh and blood, but with the hierarchies, the authorities, the master-spirits of this dark world, the spirit-forces of evil on high.

Some of them, it is true, are actually preaching the Christ from jealousy and partisanship, but there are others who are doing it out of good-will.

But the others are preaching the Christ not sincerely but for their own ends, imagining that they are making my imprisonment harder to bear.

But what difference does it make? All that matters is that, in one way or another, from false motives or honest ones, Christ is being made known; I am glad of that. Yes, and I expect to be glad,

for I eagerly and confidently hope that I shall never disgrace myself but that this time as always hitherto, living or dying, I shall do Christ credit by my unfailing courage.

But if living on here means having my labor bear fruit, I cannot tell which to choose.

Never for a moment falter before your opponents, for your fearlessness will be a sure sign for them of their coming destruction, but to you it will be an omen, from God himself, of your deliverance.

For you have been granted the privilege not only of trusting in Christ but of suffering for him.

Do not act for selfish ends or from vanity, but modestly treat one another as your superiors.

Do not take account of your own interests, but of the interests of others as well.

but laid it aside to take on the nature of a slave and become like other men.

So, my dear friends, as you have always been obedient, with reverence and awe make every effort to insure your salvation, not simply as though I were with you, but all the more because I am away.

But you know his character, and how like a son helping his father he has worked like a slave with me in preaching the good news.

But I feel that I must send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow-laborer, and fellow-soldier, whom you sent to look after my needs.

For he was sick, and nearly died, but God took pity on him, and not only on him, but on me, to save me from having one sorrow after another.

But for the sake of Christ I have come to count my former gains as loss.

and be known to be united to him, with any uprightness I may have not based on law but coming through faith in Christ??he uprightness that comes from God through faith.

Not that I have secured it yet, or already reached perfection, but I am pressing on to see if I can capture it, because I have been captured by Jesus Christ.

But the commonwealth to which we belong is in heaven, and from it we are eagerly awaiting the coming of a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have no anxiety about anything, but make all your wants known to God in prayer and entreaty, and with thanksgiving.

I was very glad, as a Christian, to have your interest in me revive again after so long; for you have always been interested, but you have had no opportunity to show it.

But it was very kind of you to share my difficulties.

And you at Philippi know as well as I do, that in the early days of the good news, after I left Macedonia, no church but yours went into partnership and opened an account with me.

Not that I want your gifts, but I want you to have the profits that will accumulate to your credit.

In it, by divine appointment, I became a worker, that I might preach among you the message of God in its fulness??26 that secret, hidden from the ages and generations, but now disclosed to those who are consecrated to him,

Through your relation to him you have received not a physical circumcision, but a circumcision effected by Christ, in stripping you of your material nature,

Such practices pass for wisdom, with their self-imposed devotions, their self-humiliation, and their ascetic discipline, but they carry with them no real distinction, they are really only a catering to the flesh.

But now you too must put them all aside??nger, rage, spite, rough, abusive talk??hese must be banished from your lips.

Here, what matters is not "Greek" and "Jew," the circumcised and the uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freeborn, but Christ is everything and in us all.

You who are slaves must always obey your earthly masters, not with mere external service, as though you had only men to please, but with sincerity of heart, because you fear the Lord.

Work at everything you do with all your hearts, as work done not for men only but for the Lord,

for our preaching of the good news did not come to you as mere words but with power and the holy Spirit and full conviction??ou know the kind of life we lived among you for your good.

For the Lord's message has rung out from you not only over Macedonia and Greece, but the story of your belief in God has gone everywhere, so that we never need to mention it.

We had just been through ill-treatment and insults at Philippi, as you remember, but, in the face of great opposition, we took courage by the help of our God, and told you God's good news.

God has thought us fit to be intrusted with the good news, and so we tell it, making no effort to please men, but to please God, who tests our hearts.

That was the kind of affection we had for you, which made us ready to share with you not only God's good news but our own lives too, because you were so dear to us.

We for our part constantly thank God for another reason too??ecause when you received God's message from our lips, you welcomed it not as the message of men but as the message of God, as it really is, which does its work in the hearts of you believers.

try to keep us from speaking to the heathen so that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But God's wrath has overtaken them at last!

But now that Timothy has just come back to me from you, and brought me good news of your faith and love, and told me how kindly you think of me and that you long to see me just as much as I long to see you,

God has not called us to an unclean life, but to a pure one.

So whoever disregards this is not disregarding man, but God, who gives you his holy Spirit.

and you are doing it to all the brothers all over Macedonia. But we do entreat you, brothers, to surpass yourselves

But as to times and dates, brothers, you do not need to have anyone write to you,

But you are not in darkness, brothers, so that that Day should surprise you like thieves.

So we must not sleep like other men, but we must be vigilant and composed.

but we who belong to the day must be composed, wearing faith and love for a coat of mail, and helmeted with the hope of salvation.

For God has not destined us for his wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Take care that none of you ever pays back evil for evil, but always try to treat one another and everybody with kindness.

but test them all, retaining what is good

For disobedience is already secretly at work, but only until he who is now holding it in check is gotten out of the way.

so that all who have refused to believe the truth but have preferred disobedience may be condemned.

But the Lord is to be relied on, and he will give you strength and protect you from the evil one.

I did not eat anybody's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor I worked night and day, in order not to be a burden to any of you.

Not that I had not a right to my support, but to give you in my own conduct an example to imitate.